Chinese cancer drugs developer CStone’s shares surge on US$480 million deal with US pharma giant Pfizer
- Pfizer agrees to pay US$200 million for a 9.9 per cent stake in Shanghai-based CStone and gets rights to its lung cancer drug candidate in mainland China
- CStone shares open 40 per cent higher on news of the deal, but give up most of the gains after the initial euphoria ebbs
Shares of cancer drugs developer CStone Pharmaceuticals shot up as much as 40 per cent after it unveiled a collaboration deal worth up to US$480 million with American drugs giant Pfizer.
“The fact that Pfizer comes in and put a lot of money on the table … says a lot about our PD-L1 [sugemalimab],” chairman Frank Jiang Ningjun told the Post. “We are pleased to have a big brother who has strong [financial] muscle to make sure it will reach the patients in need.”
Pfizer has agreed to pay US$200 million for a 9.9 per cent stake, CStone said in a filing to Hong Kong’s bourse on Wednesday. The US giant paid HK$13.37 a share, a 43.8 per cent premium to Tuesday’s closing price of HK$9.3, it added.
After opening 39.6 per cent higher, the stock shed most of the gains and closed the morning session 12.3 per cent higher at HK$10.44.
As part of the deal, Pfizer obtained exclusive commercialisation rights to sugemalimab in mainland China, while CStone will undertake clinical development and regulatory approval work on the drug candidate on five types of cancers.